Child-free flights? Yes please, say travellers

A third of Britons would happily pay more for their flights if there were no children on board.

A survey of more than 2,000 Britons carried out by travel site TripAdvisor has revealed that badly behaved children are one of the biggest causes of frustration when flying. Some 37 per cent of those questioned said they were so irritated by noisy children that they would be willing to fork out more money to go on a flight without them.

Having a child kick the back of their seat was the biggest annoyance for 22 per cent of the respondents, while another 22 per cent said parents not controlling their children was their biggest frustration.

A TripAdvisor spokeswoman, Emma Shaw, said that even on a short-haul trip, a stressful flight could have a severely negative impact on the overall travel experience. "Any disturbance when flying is annoying but it seems that unruly children are among the biggest causes of frustration for some passengers," she said.

The No 1 irritation for travellers, according to 29 per cent of those surveyed, was inconsiderate seat recliners. But opinions were divided over whether young children should be allowed to fly in first-class or business-class areas – 34 per cent said they should be excluded while 36 per cent felt they should not. The rest were undecided. Ms Shaw said: "It's clearly a topic that fiercely divides opinion."